Organic fertilizer based on natural lignocellulose material and liquid wastes, for example from agricultural production and livestock production are provided.
Plant residuals decompose and create humus. Humus improves plant nutrition by slowly releasing nitrogen, phosphorus and various trace elements. Humus also dissolves soil minerals, improves soil structure and improves soil water retention while its dark color improves temperature sensitivity.
Humus has a much higher biological activity than mineral fertilizers. Routinely, humus is made of a mixture of straw and animal excrements which decompose in the soil with the help of different microorganisms, worms, insects and larvae. Although industrial preparation of humus is often conducted by machinery, its offending odor makes it unpleasant.
In current formulations, plant wastes such as straw, hay, green communal wastes, kitchen and household waste, water cleaning plant sludge, wooden bits and sawdust can be composted.
The aerobic processes of decomposition cause compostation of biological materials.
For quality decomposition of composted materials it is important to keep appropriate moisture in the compost, allow access of materials to air, and sustain a suitable ratio between carbon and nitrogen.
Compost moisture is related to the humidity to air. If compost is too wet, it does not allow sufficient access to air, which is necessary to aerobic microorganisms. Anaerobic decomposition continues, and unwanted smelly moldy matter is created. The ratio C:N (carbon:nitrogen) influences intensity of microorganism activity, and therefore compost ripening time and creation of humus material. Optimally, C:N=20 or 30:1. Soil can be added to compost, which may aid water retention and reduce odor.
Plant material can be disintegrated before composting. Disintegration improves the access of microorganisms to both plant material and air. The composting material can also be aerated and homogenized in order to give it access to air.
Under conventional conditions, decomposition can take 3-4 weeks. Reacting microorganisms cause a rising of temperature in the compost in a range up, for example, to 50° to 70° C., while sugars, starch and protein fixed in the organic matter are decomposed. The temperature decreases during approximately the 4th to 10th weeks, and compost turns a brown color with a crumbly texture. Current compost producers process biologically decomposable communal waste and communal green waste and water cleaning plants sludge.
Problems with fluid wastages include organic contamination, especially slurry-waste water from livestock farms, are generally well known. Such waste is a serious operational and ecological problem. To date, there has not been a reliable way to dispose of or process this waste.
For instance livestock slurry is applied to fields, biological processes are used either anaerobically in biogas digestors or aerobically in cleaning plants. Anaerobic uses are the most common in agriculture practices. However this brings serious ecological and economic disadvantages, such as:
contamination of large areas with organic and inorganic material
danger of contamination in water sources
unpleasant odor affecting large areas
most of the nutritional value of slurry is lost in washout, which leads to the necessary application of industrial fertilizers that are subsequently also partly washed out, significantly reducing the effect of their nutrients.
Anaerobic systems are usually connected with production of biogas, which entails a large investment. Apart from investment, these systems incur high operational costs.
Aerobic systems require large investments into building aerobic tanks and acquiring aerobic facilities. The main disadvantage of these systems is that their cleaning effect depends on outside temperature. Aerobic technologies do not work reliably in winter conditions and cleaning is ineffective.
In embodiments described in Patent No. CZ266152, water is treated with active carbon or in combination with betonies. In embodiments described in Patent. No. AO 190083, water is treated with an ion exchanger. According to the Patent No. CZ 266153, water can be treated with hydroxide or oxide calcium.
Patent No, CZ 277555 describes liquidation of waste water, especially from the food industry and from livestock production. Waste water is homogenized with material increasing thixotropy, and with water cleaning plants activated. This type of mixture is applied in one or more batches on sorbent material while being aired in weight of a ratio of 8 to 10 parts of water to 1 part of sorbent material. Suitable sorbent materials include straw, corn stover, disintegrated wooden materials or agricultural wastes.
Disadvantage of this process include a low ratio of liquidated waste water to sorbent material (8-10:1).
In various embodiments, disclosed methods of organic fertilizer production brings realistic possibilities for the elimination of this negative ecological impact. Using this substrate for fertilizing effectively can result in natural renewal of soil quality and relieves contamination of subsoil water sources.